With lawmakers facing a July 1 deadline to provide a framework for the legal use, possession, and sale of cannabis after voters approved full legalization in November, it’s clear, almost two weeks into the General Assembly session, that the task won’t be straightforward.
While the public is generally enthusiastic about legalization, legislators have a lot of work to do to build a legal market that fulfills their commitments on issues like equity, public safety, and taxation and revenue.
“The people of this state have spoken and they have spoken loudly,” said Moore at a press conference Thursday. “We cannot, we will not, repeat the mistakes that the state has made when medical cannabis was legalized. … [W]e have to get this right from day one.”
While lawmakers are committed to meeting the July 1 deadline, the state of the legal cannabis market nationwide remains an unwelcome specter hanging over the process. A glut of available cannabis has depressed prices, decreasing margins for producers and making it far more difficult for small producers to compete with well-established companies that can grow and distribute at scale. The national spot price of legal cannabis reached an all-time low of $950 per pound in December 2022, according to Cannabis Benchmarks, which track’s the industry’s production cost data and wholesale pricing.
Click here to read the rest of the article written by Greg Morton over at The Baltimore Sun
